Suzuki HP 97 Digital vs Yamaha CLP 130 Clavinova

Suzuki HP 97 Digital vs Yamaha CLP 130 Clavinova - 10/05/0507:55 PM

Hi all, I need some advice. I have a 10 year old daughter, and myself, who are beginning piano lessons. We don't have the space/lifestyle (we move each year selling houses we build) for a regular acoustic. So I've looked at these models (I live in Canada). I can get the Suzuki at Costco for $2000 or the Yamaha at a local music store for $2400 (regular $3000 but clearing out year end model). Which is better? They both have graded hammer (?) keys and 64 polyphony. I don't know if it matters much, the Suzuki seems to have more in the line of fancy specs such as sound effects, recordability, etc. Could I please get some experienced advice???

CLP130 costs $2400? it's much too high price! CLP130 is replaced by the new model CLP230 which is upgraded to GH3 action (from CLP130's GH action). for this price, i guess you're better off to get a CLP230.

There is a large Yamaha contingent on thisforum that can only see Yamaha, but I wouldnot hesitate to buy the Suzuki over theClavinova. You are paying a premium for the Clavinova name, which is the biggest namein digitals. All digitals today with weightedhammer action keys use similar technologyand have similar performance to other brandsin the same price range. Yamaha and Rolandhave the biggest organizations and arethe biggest sellers, but comparablemodels by companies like Korg, Suzuki,Kurzweil, Casio, MAudio, etc. are just asgood. It kind of like cars:Yamaha and Roland are sort of like GeneralMotors and Ford, respectively. But thereare many other brands to choose from becausepeople don't want to be limited to justa Chevy or Ford, so you have Toyota, Nissan,Volvo, Honda, Mecedes, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Mazda, Saab, Land Rover, Hyundai,Kia, etc.

Cars and Musical instruments has nothing to do with each other. The piano market is also completely different from the car business.IMO these are not valid analogies.

Susuki pianos are not in the same category with the other three manufacturers. I agree there is a premium customers paid for the brand, but also there is tangible quality and performance.The record of Susuki's reliability is really bad I would not recommend these pianos to anybody.It does not matter Yam, Roland, Kawai but avoid the Susuki.

Gyro, your posts are starting to get REALLY annoying. They're filled with VERY poor analogies and a VERY high level of ignorance. Please do the dutiful members of this forum a favor and don't post regarding a topic you have little or no experience with. What you're doing is more harmful than you think, because a person might make considerations to a certain brand based on exactly what you said.

To the thread-starter, yes these boards are very Yamaha-friendly, but that's because Yamaha has a very GOOD track record for making quality instruments. The fact that there are so many dedicated Yamaha customers should tell you a thing or two about their products. The exact opposite should be considered regarding Suzuki. I'm not going to start making blanket statements like Gyro, but I will simply tell you exactly what I would do if I were in your shoes. If only those two digital pianos were my options, then I would choose the Yamaha hands down. But my honest opinion is that Casio actually makes some decent home digital pianos that are not too expensive. Do yourself a favor and try out as many as you can, don't even look at the name on the product, just listen and feel, and then decide.

The Suzuki is not a high-quality musical instrument! In the world of digital pianos, Yamaha has nearly 45% of the market share (Clavinova product) followed by Roland, Technics (before they went out of the digital piano business) and Korg. All the other manufactures make up the last 10% of the market share, including Suzuki! So, you do the math!

Yamaha has won "digital piano of the year" about 7 out of the last 10 years, Roland won twice and Kawai had a model that won not too long ago. But Suzuki should not be put into the same category!